London to Plymouth Walk for a Nuclear-Free Future

Me and my fellow walkers about to set off from Battersea Peace Pagoda in London on Saturday (International Day of Nonviolence and Gandhi's birthday) - Photo by Charles

Well, that's the first three days of the walk completed. Lots of dampness, exhaustion, tenderness in the feet and stiffness in the neck and shoulders from lugging my heavy backpack all those miles, but here I am in Reading, being pampered by Adrian from the local Green Party and a keen supporter of Trident Ploughshares and CND. Adrian campaigns a lot around the Atomic Weapons Establishment sites at Aldermaston, which I plan to call in at tomorrow, and Burghfield, just a few miles from Reading.

The first day took me from the Peace Pagoda at Battersea Park to Esher, accompanied some or all of the way by Ann, Charles, Chris, Lee, Mark, Rev Nagase and Shaun. From Esher I plodded onwards on my own to Lightwater, near Bisley, via Old Woking, and today I trekked from Lightwater to Earley in Reading, via Camberley and the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst. Well, onwards to Aldermaston, Hinkley and Plymouth. Hopefully the weather will start to improve soon...

London to Plymouth (via Bristol)
2^nd October – 1^st November 2010

On Saturday 2^nd October (International Day of Nonviolence) I propose to embark on a 30-day walk for a nuclear-free future from London to Plymouth, via Bristol (England). This will link in with the DEVONPORT BIG BLOCKADE in Plymouth on Monday 1^st November, organised by Trident Ploughshares and supported by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament

Trident Ploughshares website:
http://www.tridentploughshares.org

CND briefing about Devonport:
http://www.cnduk.org/images/stories/briefings/trident/devonport09.pdf

...and the ongoing campaigns against proposed new nuclear reactors at HINKLEY POINT in Somerset, and elsewhere

Stop Hinkley website:
http://www.stophinkley.org

Stop Nuclear Power Network website:
http://stopnuclearpoweruk.net

...and the £3 million-a-DAY being spent upgrading and maintaining the nuclear warhead facilities at the ATOMIC WEAPONS ESTABLISHMENT sites at Aldermaston and Burghfield in Berkshire:

http://aldermaston.net
http://nuclearinfo.org
http://www.tridentploughshares.org
http://www.nuclearawarenessgroup.org.uk

The walk will be free of drugs and alcohol, to help focus the mind and in solidarity with indigenous communities around the world who have been devastated by the effects of these substances (alcohol is often brought in by multi-national corporations mining uranium and other resources on their land in order to disrupt community cohesion).

My intention is that this will be a ‘zero carbon’ walk in the sense that I will not be relying on fossil fuel (or nuclear power-based) transportation of either me or my equipment along the route of the walk. This means that I will probably have to carry my own gear and travel as lightly as possible. However, if others have ‘zero carbon’ forms of transport available, e.g. bicycle (with trailer perhaps), camel or ingenious renewably-powered contraption, they would be welcome to accompany me some or all of the way. Other walkers are also welcome to join me for some or all of the journey, provided they do not challenge my sanity unduly.

I plan to walk 10-15 miles per day most days, and to camp most nights, though offers of a bed / sofa / inch of floor space and showers along the way would be gratefully received.

I would be very pleased to participate in any relevant public meetings or demonstrations that fit in with my itinerary.

Donations towards the cost of this venture would be most welcome. Any money donated that is surplus to requirement will be shared equally between Chernobyl Children’s Project UK, Stop Nuclear Power Network and Trident Ploughshares. Please get in touch if you would like to make a donation.

If you are interested in taking part or supporting this walk in any way, please get in touch with me by e-mail (vd2012-walk [AT] yahoo.co.uk ) (note: I probably won't check this very often once the walk starts) or telephone (mob: 07506 234 091). A provisional itinerary can be found below.

Peace,

Dan Viesnik

Provisional itinerary (n.b. this may be subject to change):

DATE	START	FINISH	NOTES
Sat 2 Oct	Battersea Peace Pagoda (LONDON)	Esher	International Day of Nonviolence
Sun 3	Esher	Woking
Mon 4	Woking	Wokingham
Tue 5	Wokingham	AWE Aldermaston	Nuclear Bomb Factory
Wed 6	AWE Aldermaston	Newbury
Thu 7	Newbury	Froxfield
Fri 8	Froxfield	Avebury
Sat 9	Avebury	Chippenham
Sun 10		Chippenham	Rest day / outreach?
Mon 11	Chippenham	Bath
Tue 12	Bath	BRISTOL
Wed 13		BRISTOL	Rest day / outreach?
Thu 14	BRISTOL	Clevedon
Fri 15	Clevedon	Weston-super-Mare
Sat 16	Weston-super-Mare	Burnham-on-Sea
Sun 17	Burnham-on-Sea	Bridgwater
Mon 18	Bridgwater	Hinkley Point	Nuclear Power Station
Tue 19	Hinkley Point	Bridgwater
Wed 20	Bridgwater	Taunton
Thu 21	Taunton	Honiton
Fri 22	Honiton	EXETER
Sat 23			Stop Nuclear Power Network national gathering in Bristol
Sun 24			Stop Nuclear Power Network national gathering in Bristol
Mon 25	EXETER	Dawlish
Tue 26	Dawlish	Torquay
Wed 27	Torquay	Dartmouth
Thu 28	Dartmouth	Torcross
Fri 29	Torcross	Kingsbridge
Sat 30	Kingsbridge	Yealmpton
Sun 31	Yealmpton	PLYMOUTH	(clocks go back)
Mon 1 Nov	PLYMOUTH	Devonport Dockyard	Join Big Blockade (from 6am )

London to Plymouth Walk for a Nuclear-Free Future

Pages

Wednesday 3 November 2010

The Devonport Big Blockade 1st November - A great day of action

Bridgwater to Plymouth photos

Saturday 16 October 2010

Chippenham to Bridgwater photos

Saturday 9 October 2010

Latest photos

Monday 4 October 2010

I've made it to Reading

Thursday 23 September 2010

Zero Carbon Walk for a Nuclear-Free Future